4/19/2014

A fetish for full body suits in Japan

By day, she is a mild-mannered office clerk,
whose modest make-up and conservative hairstyle make her blend in to any crowd.

By
night, she dresses in a skin-tight, all-in-one Spandex body suit that covers
everything — including her eyes — and sits in bars, alone but liberated, she
believes, from the judgement of others.“With
my face covered, I cannot eat or drink like other customers,” said the woman,
who is in her 20s and says her name is Hokkyoku Nigo (North Pole No. 2). “I
have led my life always worrying about what other people think of me. They say
I look cute, gentle, childish or naive,” she said, her lips ruffling the tight,
red shiny material. “I always felt suffocated by that. But wearing this, I am
just a person in a full body suit.”Hokkyoku
Nigo is part of a small subset in Japan with a fetish for wearing outfits
called “zentai” — an abbreviation of “zenshintaitsu”, which means “full body
suit” — who say they are seeking liberation by effacing the physical self